Top Diaries

Could you people please add your name in this section if you are coming - thanks! Makes it easier for me to keep an overview of who is coming. :-)

So up to now it is

Colman
pi
Helen

who else?

by Fran on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 12:33:46 PM EST
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I'll be there (I'm about 45 mn by train, SW of Paris).

by Bernard (bernard) on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 01:42:19 PM EST
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I will be there. Fun shall be had!

by someone (s0me1smail(a)gmail(d)com) on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 02:36:56 PM EST
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Great!

by Fran on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 11:49:03 PM EST
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I've noted it in my calender. But my attendance is subject to the usual constraint that my rent has financial priority. I know, I'm boring that way :-P

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 05:55:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Hope you can make it.

by Fran on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 11:45:45 PM EST
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Assuming finances are healthy, I'll manage it somehow.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 06:21:47 PM EST
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Would be great if you could make it this time. :-)

by Fran on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 11:45:18 PM EST
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I will be there

Money is a sign of Poverty - Culture Saying

by RogueTrooper on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 01:43:15 PM EST
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Put me down on the maybe list - work etc.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 02:53:20 AM EST
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You'll be there...you just don't know it yet.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Tue May 12th, 2009 at 04:31:41 AM EST
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I'm going to be there.

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 04:27:48 AM EST
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Paris in September.

This should be possible. Count me in (Subject to ratification by the fiscal authorities.)

"It Can't Be Just About Us"
--Frank Schnittger, ETian Extraordinaire

by papicek (papi_cek_at_hotmail_dot_com) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 08:43:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Who will come? (4.00 / 2)

Hmm, I think the wife and I are a Maybe on this.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Wed May 20th, 2009 at 09:35:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Wishes and Ideas (none / 0)

by Fran on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 10:43:36 AM EST

As per usual, helen will be driving the beer hunt tho' I want more French beer. Going to Paris to drink belgian beer seems wrong somehow.

I think I'll try and take a slightly more symmetric photo next time.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 11:09:22 AM EST
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Going to Paris to drink beer (period) sounds wrong.
You should be drinking some good French wine! There's plenty of it around: white, red, rosé, bubbly, cooked, sweet, dry, semi, fruity, oaky, vanilla, ... you name it. Much better than beer (at least when in France).

by vladimir on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 02:14:06 AM EST
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you are possibly right, but I like beer and invariably prefer it. Also, I can get drunk on beer (an occupational hazard) and be functional the next day. Wine hangovers are, by contrast, brutal.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 02:15:50 PM EST
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I'll have to introduce you to some "special" French wine which is hangover free (good quality Bordeaux in general). You need to avoid Côtes du Rhône - which undoubtedly has the best price quality ratio... but can leave your head feeling glued the following day.

But if you're a beer fan... Belgian beats French by miles.

by vladimir on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 03:39:28 PM EST
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eh bien... (none / 0)

Biere ou vin...this must be explored further, in Paris. I will pack a thirst.

"It Can't Be Just About Us"
--Frank Schnittger, ETian Extraordinaire

by papicek (papi_cek_at_hotmail_dot_com) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 06:44:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Wishes and Ideas (4.00 / 4)

The Stoner's Advantage is of course is no hangover whatsoever. But getting out of bed is a problem ;-)

As is finding the way back to the hotel...

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue May 12th, 2009 at 12:03:10 PM EST
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I once spent five hours trying to find my way home.

It was, yes, three or four blocks away.

So...yeah, I'll take the hangover....

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Wed May 20th, 2009 at 09:38:55 PM EST
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Re: Wishes and Ideas (4.00 / 3)

I was telling the story at my friends funeral of the night he tried, under the influence of much beer and smokeables to steal a train. After the line had shut down for the night, because he had missed the last train and thought it best that he had a vehicle that you didn't need to steer to attempt to go home in.

The local police found him in the cab, attempting to find the starter, and having persuaded him outside, gave him a lift home so he didn't try to steal it again once they had gone.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed May 20th, 2009 at 10:21:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Wishes and Ideas (4.00 / 2)

That's policing: these days he would have had a SWAT team interdicting a terrorist act.

A mate of mine told me how after the A610 bypass was opened from the M1 about eight miles past Eastwood in Nottinghamshire a friend of his and a mate took out his custom Vauxhall Calibra turbo (or some such) at 3am to see how fast it would go.

He was doing over 140mph when he passed a police car who had stopped for a fag-break, and they took off after him and flagged him down.

The policemen (both car aficianados, which is probably compulsory) walked around the car admiringly, had a look under the bonnet, and then one took out his notebook.

"Right lads. Nice burn, we clocked 144 - let's call it 85 shall we?"

3 points on the licence, small fine.

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson

by ChrisCook (cojockathotmaildotcom) on Thu May 21st, 2009 at 06:37:16 AM EST
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That was pretty typical on the Beeline Highway in South Florida, out in the middle of nowhere near the sugar cane. Friend of mine got pulled doing something well over 100 in his Pontiac Firebird, got off with a small fine.

You'd probably never get away with it on the A610 now.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Thu May 21st, 2009 at 08:13:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Chris, no chance of you going to the meet-up this time?

Truth unfolds in time through a communal process.

by marco on Thu May 21st, 2009 at 10:55:26 AM EST
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"Going to Paris to drink beer (period) sounds wrong."

Well, chacun a son gout, and their type of hangover; living in France I sometimes drink wine and sometimes beer. I wouldn't say it's "wrong" to go to Paris to drink beer, but to spend any of a limited amount of time in Paris "hunting" for beer of various flavours seems not so much "wrong" as a bit sad, and sadly, the Brit habit of just getting pissed seems to be catching on with French youth. Personally, in Paris, I prefer to go to places where I can drink in the ambience, and the particular type of booze is rather secondary, see suggestions.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.

by Ted Welch (tedwelch-at-mac-dot-com) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 05:25:26 PM EST
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but to spend any of a limited amount of time in Paris "hunting" for beer of various flavours seems not so much "wrong" as a bit sad

Yup. And your point is .. ?

chacun a son gout :-))

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue May 12th, 2009 at 06:36:39 AM EST
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Aw, that's not true. I generally don't care much for beer from the Continent, but I quite like French beer.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Wed May 20th, 2009 at 09:39:46 PM EST
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September 12 is OK for me.

by vladimir on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 02:24:14 AM EST
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This will be my first Paris meetup as a non-parisian.
But I'll make sure that I (we, probably) will be there.

I would recommend that one lunch or dinner is spent at les Vendanges (porte d'Orléans) where you get truly awesome food for 35€ (25 if you go for the two courses menu, which I really should do if I don't exercise more until then).

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 01:14:57 PM EST
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Oh, and ??? is called Mouna ;-)

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 04:17:16 AM EST
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I know, but is Mouna coming?

by Fran on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 02:47:14 PM EST
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Most probably.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi

by Cyrille (cyrillev domain yahoo.fr) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 05:32:21 PM EST
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LEP:

As for Friday, we could consider visiting the Pere Lachaise cemetary, with a dinner in the Chinatown of the 20th arondissement afterwards. We considered doing that last year but changed our plans for reasons I don't recall, although we certainly had a great dinner in the quartier Mouffetard.

Sounds good to me.

by Fran on Sun May 10th, 2009 at 11:46:49 PM EST
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Just thinking out (virtual) loud, I wonder if it would be possible to get a discount on a contingent of rooms at the Passy Home.

The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman

by dvx (dvx.clt ät gmail dotcom) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 03:30:33 AM EST
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It should be possible to reserve a block of rooms for two nights (Friday and Saturday) until (say) a month prior to the meetup weekend.

The brainless should not be in banking. — Willem Buitler

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon May 11th, 2009 at 04:07:35 AM EST
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